The classic big “seagull” of much of North America—chunky, confident, and perfectly at home whether it’s soaring over surf or striding through a supermarket parking lot. Adults are large, heavily built gulls with a white head, body, rump, and tail, a pale silver-grey back, and black wing tips marked with neat white “mirrors” near the tips. The bill is strong and yellow with a red spot on the lower mandible, the eye is pale yellow with a fine yellow or orange ring, and the legs are usually soft pink.
This gull has one of the broadest ranges of any North American seabird. It breeds across much of Canada and Alaska, through the Great Lakes region, and along the Atlantic coast of the United States from Maine south to North Carolina, nesting on islands, coastal headlands, lakeshores, river islands, and even flat rooftops in some cities. Many birds remain year-round around the Great Lakes and northeast coasts, but others migrate south in winter along both Atlantic and Pacific coasts as far as Mexico and the Caribbean, with a few reaching Central and northern South America. Wherever there is open water and reliable food—harbours, estuaries, landfills, ploughed fields, fishing ports—you’re likely to find American herring gulls loafing, bathing, or arguing loudly over scraps.
American herring gulls eat an impressive variety of prey: marine invertebrates like mussels, crabs, sea urchins and squid; fish such as capelin, alewife and smelt; insects; worms; the eggs and chicks of other birds; plus carrion and human refuse. They forage in almost every way a gull can: walking on mudflats, patrolling beaches, dipping to pick up items from the water’s surface, shallow plunge-diving, or following fishing boats to scavenge discarded bycatch. They’re famous for their shell-dropping trick—carrying clams or mussels into the air and dropping them on rocks or pavement until the shell shatters. This behaviour appears to be learned and refined over time, with birds sometimes choosing particular “anvils” where broken shells pile up.
Distribution
Antigua & Barbuda
Aruba
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Bermuda
British Virgin Is.
Canada
Cayman Islands
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Guadeloupe
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Hong Kong
Jamaica
Japan
Kazakhstan
Korea
Martinique
Mexico
Mongolia
Montserrat
Nicaragua
Nort. Mariana Is.
North Korea
Palau
Panama
Philippines
Puerto Rico
Russia
Saint Lucia
Saint Pierre
Saint Vincent
St. Kitts & Nevis
Taiwan
Thailand
Trinidad & Tobago
Turks & Caicos
US Minor Is.
US Virgin Islands
United States
Venezuela
VietnamAnything we've missed?
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Terrestrial / Aquatic
Altricial / Precocial
Polygamous / Monogamous
Dimorphic (size) / Monomorphic
Active: Diurnal / Nocturnal
Social behavior: Solitary / Pack / Colony
Diet: Carnivore / Herbivore / Omnivore / Piscivorous / Insectivore
Migratory: Yes / No
Domesticated: Yes / No
Dangerous: Yes / No
